Partypoker Heaven

February 9, 2006

Everyone checks to Johnny, who once again makes a bet. Now, he is just about the only partypoker player in this pot who can't have a seven-four because, as I said, his preflop standards are rather tight. The most likely hands for him to hold would be top pair, second pair + ace kicker or, also still possible, the ace-high flush draw. He can also hold a set, but I usually read him very well, and I don't sense this much strength in him. In fact, I sense fear in Johnny, fear that this five may very well be a bad card for him.

Getting Rivered

1. Baccarat
2. Pai Gow PartyPoker
3. Sic Bo
4. Black Jack
5. Fooch eats oreos

A waitress has just brought a delicious meal to the table. Even though I usually don't like to eat while playing, the partypoker game is so good that I simply don't want to take a break. The food is good too: I have a spicy, delicious combination of steak and green vegetables in a rich, thick Oriental sauce. I'm in the big blind with king-nine of clubs. Five players have limped, including Johnny who is in the cutoff, so I get a free play.

It's one of those nice and quiet Sunday afternoons. Usually, this would be my day off, because on Sundays there are no big pot-limit games in my regular cardroom. But because I haven't played any long limit hold'em sessions in quite a while, I head to partypoker to play a little $10-20 hold'em, which is the biggest limit available.

Now, this is an interesting card, knowing it may well have helped one of my partypoker opponents. After all, with five people seeing the turn, and with people routinely playing hands like seven-four suited in this game, I know that this card might have given one of my opponents considerable help.

I am certain that some of you will not view all of the plays mentioned here as "errors". This may be correct: sometimes "exploitable weakness" may be a better partypoker term, or even "fairly good play that could be better though". Whatever the term, I hope you will have learned a few things to improve your play, some partypoker mistakes to avoid in order to play a better overall game.

But if you raise before the flop, this might not happen. People will often check to you, knowing that you will probably bet, but because the pot is much bigger now, they will be more inclined to call you - even with relatively weak hands. This is not what you want, holding just one pair yourself, simply because one-pair hands tend to perform rather badly in multiway pots. (Of course, the higher the pair, the more likely it is to survive.)

Also, if you confront people who play a pretty good game but still can't get the results one would expect and argue that their lack of focus might be the cause here, they would probably dismiss your suggestion as nonsense, claiming things like "Don't worry, I've got as much focus as anyone else", or "Tell me, smart guy, who has ever won a pot by focus anyway." But the fact is that one's ability to focus can have a huge impact on one's overall partypoker results - even though it seems to be a somewhat intangible factor.

The software does seem to run more smoothly nowadays, but there are some occasional problems. However, improvements are being done and in 2005 no-limit ring partypoker games has been added, short-handed tables and note taking support. Probably the most juicy games online! But the good-old crazy 85% view flop percentages at $15/$30 tables is down to maybe 65-70% in best case. Partypoker rake is somewhat less attractive than the average in the industry, at least when it comes to lower limit games. The rake caps at Partypoker are in line with the industry, but the drop is taken at more frequent intervals, which result in a higher effective rake. Quite a few "skin specific" promotions for partypoker, with WSOP promotions etc. Maybe the best feature is all the money-added or money guaranteed tournaments.

There is a hand history statistics function which enables you to play up your old partypoker hands. If you are looking to make a profit the Omaha Hi-Lo tables are very good as well. The full tables at $0.5/$1 limits and up have view flop percentages in the mid 30-ies up to mid 40-ies in most cases, which is tight but not too bad. There are certainly easier sites to win money at, but among the top 5 online poker rooms Partypoker scores average. The game variation is very good and there are many super high limit games. There are decent promotions and a great frequent partypoker player program. Several poker pro endorsers participate in the games.

The lobby has information on view flop percentage and hands played per hour. Thanks to Casino-on-Net's operations, there are a lot of less experienced partypoker players, often with a sweet tooth for gambling. However, the maximum rake for short-handed games, are capped at lower than at many other rooms. Moreover, in the heads-up and three-player tables there is a very low cap. Each specified table only pays the player for a maximum of two hours ($20-$60). Also a progressive bad beat jackpot and a royal flush jackpot. Also, there is the open proposition player program for all real money players, where the player get $10-$30 pro rata (i.e. $1-$3 per six minutes) for any amount of time playing at specified table.